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Art in the Woods tour | Kitsap Week

Check out Richard Badger’s landscape and wildlife photography at West Sound Academy, 16571 Creative Drive NE, Poulsbo. Badger is one of 70 artists featured in the Art in the Woods studio tour, Nov. 9-11 in North Kitsap.

POULSBO — When visitors enter Karrie and Jay Stemmler’s pottery studio at their home in Indianola, they’ll be able to watch the artists at work and ask questions about the ceramic and raku process.

And, “They’ll see what the studio looks like, although it looks better during the Art in the Woods tour than it does the rest of the year,” Karrie quipped.

An opportunity to watch artists at work in their studios is a rare one indeed. Many of the artists in the Art in the Woods Studio Tour work in home studios.

Those studios will be open to the public Nov. 9-11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The free, self-guided tour features 70 artists in 24 venues. For a studio map, visit www.CAFNW.org.

The annual tour is presented by the Cultural Arts Foundation NW, which also presents the Poulsbo Arts Festival the third weekend in August. The foundation also funds grants for adult artists and scholarships to help students in grades 1-8 develop their art skills and knowledge.

On the tour are eight venues and studios in Indianola, three in Kingston, three in Poulsbo, three in Suquamish, and seven elsewhere in North Kitsap. At least two of the studios — Knowles Studio, 20432 Noll Road, Poulsbo, and Rosie Creek Studio, 6421 Middle St., Suquamish — are teaching studios.

Impressionist painter and author Beverly Hooks will sign copies of her book, “Come Walk With Me: A Poetic Journal” (Tate Publishing), at her studio at 180 Sherman Hill Road, south of Poulsbo off Viking Avenue.

Hooks wants her studio visit to be one of quiet inspiration. She invites visitors to journal their thoughts, with her original paintings and poetry serving as inspiration.

“With pen to paper, find your relaxing moments as a time of creativity and course,” she wrote in an announcement of her studio tour. “ ‘Come Walk with Me’ is a seasonal expression enveloping a style of peace and God-centered praise to all who venture along the dusty paths.’ ”

Hooks (www.beverlyhooks.com) is a romantic impressionist painter. She paints romantic landscapes with personal expression and free-flowing style. Her paintings are full of subtle tones of ancient venues, yet are vibrant with fresh color and inviting movement.

According to her publisher: “God’s gift of light and grandeur inspire her writing with the beauty of thought and expression.”

Max Hayslette, who joins Eby Olsen Halvorsen at Magdalena Studio in Kingston, is one of the more prominent artists on the tour. His paintings have been available as custom art through Ethan Allen Interiors, and his dreamy landscapes of French vineyards and Italian coasts are widely available as posters. His abstracts and landscapes are represented in more than 350 private, corporate and public collections. West Virginia University is the home of the Max Hayslette Archives Collection.

Elsewhere, artists lend an international touch to the tour.

Karen Chaussabel, a ceramic and encaustic artist featured at Paula Suter Photography on Big Valley Road, is from France.

Sophie Frieda, who paints florals and botanicals in oil, is from England. She’ll be featured at Knowles Studio on Noll Road.

Chantal Griffis, a fine European beaded jewelry artist featured at Kingston Cove Studio on West Kingston Road, is from Brussels.

Elizabeth Reed-Smith, a pen, ink and gold-leaf artist who owns a studio on Kingston Street in Indianola, is from England.

Joanne Schoener-Scott, an acrylic painter featured at Muddy Paws Studio on Miller Bay Road, is from Germany.

Elena Wendelyn, a ceramic artist featured at El Dot on Highway 305, is from Russia.

Printmaker and painter Leigh Knowles, who owns Knowles Studio and is coordinator of the tour, said the tour is broad in its benefits. It’s free, and visitors can meet artists and get to know artistic processes. The artists pay to be part of the tour, and money raised helps fund the foundation’s philanthropy (and, hopefully, artists sell some of their works on the tour). And, finally, the event builds relationships between the artists.

“A lot of the artists don’t know each other,” Knowles said. “My goal is to build a sense of community in the artists.”

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